I’m looking for a bike that I’ll take out in bad weather or if I need to lug some stuff around. I am considering Jones Bars rather than drops.
I commute about 17 miles (minimum - I go longer sometimes) each way. I’m thinking with bad weather or carrying things, a more upright and stable position might be better?? Since I’d be going slower anyway.
But I don’t want to lose too much speed and make my commute much slower since it’s already a lot time-wise for me as it is.
Maybe let’s say same bike if I averaged 19 mph for the commute with drop bars,…what would my average be if I mirrored that ride (same wind / weather / traffic) on a Jones Bar?
(I’m thinking Jones bar over flat bar because I’m hoping I can get a little more aero on it for some of the long flat streets with the forward hand position. also it looks like fun and being able to throw a bag in there would be useful for this bike)
When I bought my Surly Straggler I initially put a Jones Loop Bar on it, but ended up swapping over to drop bars / GRX after only a dozen or so rides. Tbh I didnt really get on with them, some of that is personal as my right wrist is not as mobile as it should and so ached with the big sweep back, but I didnt really find any of the alternative hand positions really felt especially natural. In the “aero” position, you are a long way from the brake levers.
For me it feels more like a touring bar where you primarily want to hold it like a MTB handlebar, with the sweep back making you more upright, and plenty of bar to tie things to…
16 miles each way here and… it depends.
If you are riding a pan flat, traffic and light free ride it might be possible to estimate a daily loss but I’m going to go with 5 minutes between a fast and slower bike.
I’ve got these on one of the bikes, and you can still get down and low on a real windy day but there is so much traffic and stop/starts that I doubt I’d notice much with a switch to drops.
